Who Made Him Professor of Secularism? Nitish Kumar on Ex-Ally Mulayam

Patna: Partners till three weeks ago, politicians Mulayam Singh Yadav and Nitish Kumar are now unburdening themselves of angry accusations against each other. Mr Kumar, running for a third term as Bihar Chief Minister, today asked if Mr Yadav "is a Vice Chancellor of the University of Secularism....and are we just research scholars?"

He had been asked to comment on Mulayam Singh Yadav's attack on him recently, when the Samajwadi Party leader said, "Who is secular? People who ran the alliance with the BJP's support for 17 years? They are secular all of a sudden?"

Mr Yadav was referring to Nitish Kumar's long partnership with the BJP, which the Bihar chief minister ended two years ago.

Mr Kumar said he didn't need a "certificate on secularism" from Mr Yadav.   

"We aren't offering any certificates... Nor do we want any," retorted Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh's son and chief minister of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, who was visiting Bihar today.  

In June this year, Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Yadav of the RJD and the Congress announced a "Grand Alliance" to combat the BJP and its partners for the election that begins next month in Bihar.

Disparaging comments about each other were made from the start, telegraphing a partnership based on an unhappy compulsion. Those signs remain vibrantly exhibited - neither Mr Kumar nor Lalu Yadav attended Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent public meeting in Bihar.  

Mulayam Singh, 75, exited the team on September 3, angry at being assigned only five of Bihar's 243 seats to contest by the coalition.

He has since brought together other parties in what he calls the "third front" in the Bihar battle, which is seen as a direct contest between the coalitions led by Nitish Kumar and the BJP.

Mr Yadav's new alliance includes the Nationalist Congress Party, which too walked out of the Grand Alliance in a huff over seats. Neither party is a significant player in Bihar politics, but they could play spoiler in a number of constituencies by splitting anti-BJP votes.